He also defended American Institute in Taiwan Chairwoman Therese Shaheen against criticism in Taiwan of her remarks that Taipei's concern with submarine purchases was "silly" and other comments made in recent weeks.
"We all know that Therese Shaheen is a very outgoing lady, very friendly, very warm and sometimes, on the spur of the moment, she talks about things in a very abbreviated form. But if you read the transcript [of the `silly' comments] carefully, she told me that she did not mean some of the interpretations that we heard," the envoy said.
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